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Occupy Boston Protests on May Day

Occupy Boston members protest in Boston's Financial District on May 1. (Phillip Martin/WGBH)

BOSTON — Around the world, May Day is celebrated as the workers' holiday. Occupy Boston marked the occasion in pouring rain with demonstrations starting Tuesday morning in Boston’s downtown Financial District. The local movement’s protests were coordinated with similar events around the country.

Occupy activists called on Massachusetts residents to strike, walk out of school and abstain from shopping and banking in support of the "99 Percent." Few seemed to heed their call.

Though they didn't take the day off, some people who work in the Financial District agreed with the Occupy movement’s message that income inequality is a major problem facing the country.

"I think that’s pretty accurate," said Florence Lee of Quincy. "I got laid off a year ago and I just got back to work, actually."

Jean Fabrizzio felt a certain affinity with the Occupy message as well: "I'm not against them, no. Because I'm not wealthy, I do work every day, but yes, in some ways, I can agree with some of the things they say."

But Tom Ryan of Bellingham was less sympathetic, saying, "It's raining. I'm not too impressed. If they want to get wet and protest, that's their right under the Constitution."